Research Publications - College of Medicine and Health Science

Department of Microbiology & Immunology
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���������� The research in Dr Khan’s laboratory
is focused on viral tumour biology. Viruses are
now believed to be involved, directly or indirectly,
in the pathogenesis of approximately 15% of
all human malignancies, accounting for around
1.5 million cases worldwide. Most of these cases
are due to just 6 viruses: HTLV-1, HPV, Hepatitis
B and C, HHV-8 and EBV. We are interest in
understanding the mechanisms by which some
of these viruses, in particular EBV, lead to cell
transformation and proliferation. EBV is arguably
one of the best studied human oncogenic
viruses implicated in the pathogenesis of a
number of malignancies of both epithelial and
lymphoid origin. We are trying to understand
the role of some of the viral latent products in
regulating latency, inhibition of apoptosis and
cell proliferation.
Research Highlight: Although numerous studies
have been published over the last 10 to
���������������� My main research interest is the
investigations of the molecular epidemiology of
multi drug resistant Gram negative pathogens
and of the genetic background of their antibiotic
resistance. We are focusing particularly on
the strains producing carbapenemases, i.e. an
emerging threat in the UAE. Also, the relationship
between drug resistance and the presence
of certain virulence genes and cell wall elements
are being studied. We cooperate with colleagues
in Paris, Edinburgh, Vienna.
15 years looking at the possible link between
EBV and the pathogenesis of breast cancer, the
association remains controversial and reports
from both corners of the arena continue to be
published. We too have examined the potential
association of EBV to the pathogenesis of breast
cancer in a large series of cases using a highly
sensitive in situ hybridization method capable
of detecting as little as a few EBV infected
cells in an entire tissue section. We found that,
although EBV can be detected in approximately
50% of breast cancer cases, the virus
is not present in the malignant cells. Rather,
the virus is localized to occasional infiltrating
lymphocytes (Fig. 3), which could give rise to
‘false’ interpretations of PCR-based studies linking
the virus to the pathogenesis of the disease.
Furthermore, we did not find any correlation
between the presence of EBV in infiltrating
lymphocytes and ER, PR, HER2 expression or
metastasis status.
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Figure 3
Detection of EBV by EBER-in situ hybridization (EBER-ISH) in breast tissues. EBER-ISH showing positive signal (brown staining) in
an occasional infiltrating lymphocyte (arrow) in: (a) Reactive non-malignant breast tissues (b) Invasive ductal carcinoma of the
breast. No positive signal for EBV was seen in the malignant cells in any of the 61 cases examined, indicating that EBV is not directly
involved in the pathogenesis of this malignancy (from Khan et al. Exp Mol Pathol. 2011;91:466-70).
���������������������Dr. Rizvi has been interested
in studying the basic steps in retroviral
replication for nearly two decades now. He
started his independent investigations with how
retroviruses regulate the expression of their
gene products. While continuing this work, the
current research in his laboratory is now focused
on how retroviruses/lentiviruses dimerize and
package their genomic RNAs into a virus particle
and what are some of the underlying molecular
intricacies during these crucial steps in retroviral